


Original Character Profile: Dæniaryn

by DayRaincat



Category: Original Work
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Gen, Nonbinary Character, Original Character Death(s), Roleplaying Character, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:07:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26765527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DayRaincat/pseuds/DayRaincat
Summary: Originally uploaded forOCtober 2020 Week 1: Intro To OC, but also a general character description.(Contains three screenshot images.)I'm not using many tags because I don't want this to be especially searchable, but heed 'em. The sensitive acts in the tags are just mentions, not actual depictions of events.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 12





	Original Character Profile: Dæniaryn

**Author's Note:**

> **All OCtober 2020 prompts:**  
>  **Week 1: Introduction To OC** \- Who's your OC? What are they like? What's their role? (You're here!)  
>  **Week 2:[Come At Me, Bro/In A Fight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26946394)** \- Your OC is in combat! Who started it? How does OC fare? ( _The Elder Scrolls Online_ setting: contains seven screenshot "illustrations")  
>  **Week 3:[Captured!/Arrested!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11694096)** \- Guess your OC lost the fight! How do they cope with being taken prisoner? ( _The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim_ setting)  
>  **Week 4:[Game Over](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27187069)** \- Oh, no. Your OC didn't survive. What happened? How do others react? (Original RPG setting)  
>  **Halloween Grand Finale:[Spooky Scary OC Adventures/Halloween Costume](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27241192)** \- Share some Halloween-themed fun with your OC! (Original RPG setting)  
> 

(This is mostly for original canon Dæniaryn, with some asides to RPG-specific content since I've got RP friends here. But I'm holding on to a lot of canon secrets still....)

I'm posting this for OCtober 2020, but this isn't actually specific to that--more general information for a character I've been carrying around for well over 30 years.

**Original Character Profile Quiz (get detailed!)**

(Okay, I will.)

**Dæniaryn** (pronounced "Day-NEE-ah-rin" or, in the International Phonetic Alphabet: /deɪˈniːɑːrɪn/ (the "æ" isn't an archaic English aesch; it's not pronounced the same way. It's got more in common with some of the various pronunciations of "æ" in Norwegian.) Dæniaryn's name is self-chosen due to having no memory of a birth name. (The origin of this name wasn't a random choice, although Dæ has long since forgotten the reason for a name picked in early childhood.)

**Other names, nicknames, or aliases:** Hyleyssa, Hyla, Xi'sha, Deio**** Mys*****/Deia**** Mys*****/Kil**** Mys***** [removed three names from very early-era RPG's that many of you would otherwise note aren't here, because I don't want _everyone_ I ever roleplayed with stumbling over this], Treasure (RPG-only, and not a name given in affection, sadly), just Dae in the 1990s Star Trek 24th Century RPG ('cause it had some strict rules for player characters and I didn't want to step on any toes), just Dei in the first version of The Grey Lodge RPG (because shy about coming in with my weird OC lol).

**General Information:** Dæniaryn is a psychic (telepathy, empathy) non-consensually shapeshifting alien who travels time and the Universe at the whims of an unidentified entity. This "Unknown Force" (so named when I was a child, and it stuck) controls where Dæ goes, what Dæ arrives and leaves with, whether psychic skills can be used, and typically even what Dæ looks like on any given world (bet that last part is confusing my old classic RPG friends who are used to shifting being something _Dæ_ chooses to do when it's available, haha). Aside: one of the comparisons I get the most for Dæniaryn's time-and-space traveling and form-changing is The Doctor from _Doctor Who_ \--Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor, usually, though I was just a kid who wasn't familiar with the series at the time I dreamed up these traits for Dæniaryn. I take it as a compliment since The Doctor (all of them!) is an interesting character from a franchise that has had a lasting positive effect on pop culture. A sign that I'm surely doing something right with Dæ. =^^=

Usually Dæniaryn is sent somewhere to help out with a problem, though sometimes Dæ's just thrown into chaos for what seems like no reason. Having had so many adventures, there are multiple worlds where Dæniaryn's not welcome anymore because the residents erroneously believe Dæ is the _cause_ of their trouble, rather than coming there to help resolve it. And with the number of the people Dæniaryn's fought against, there are quite a few bounties out on Dæ, and even more people looking for revenge. It can make returning to a place Dæniaryn has been to previously rather dangerous.

Left-handed. Never met a fourth wall that Dæ doesn't try to fight. Oddly terrible at battlecries. Gets motion sickness during very tumultuous travel. Difficult to poison or medicate, as it tends to takes a much higher dose than for most other people. Heals and recovers quickly (not instantaneously). Seemingly immortal; always fully regenerates and recovers from any damage, and never seems to age past late adolescence?/early adulthood? (Dæniaryn has basically no way to keep track of time, so couldn't even tell you when Dæ stopped growing). Immortal does not mean invulnerable, but enough people view it that way that Dæniaryn keeps the whole "not staying dead" thing a secret when possible.

**DOB/Age:** Has no fucking clue due to being tossed through time and space for centuries.

**Family:** They exist. =^^= Oh, you want more? There's quite a number of them. Still not enough? Well, it's complicated and spoilery.

**Background/Origins:** Also complicated and spoilery in canon. Not that Dæ's RPG origins _haven't_ often been complicated as well. (Let's see...we have "artificially created in a Starfleet science officer's experiment," "the sentient physical manifestation of the gods' realm, resulting from someone pledging faithfulness to a goddess about to wage Universal war," "created from someone having a near-death experience in the world between worlds after a failed suicide attempt," "unintended side effect of a magic spell that was definitely _not_ supposed to take on the form of a living creature" [x2]....) One thing is true for all canons from original to RPG, though: Dæniaryn is created (usually unintentionally), not born. I guess that's kinda spoilery. Consider that your freebie. 😋

**Identity:** Pan-demiromantic, asexual. Not hostile to flirting (giving or receiving). Agender/nonbinary (doesn't get "gender stuff" and uses no pronouns for self. Leaves that up to other people, so pronouns change depending upon who's talking about Dæ. I've used different narrative pronouns throughout history to reflect this, as well as to help my friends get more comfortable with their enby identities by having our own enby charas use their chosen enby pronouns. Most recently, Dæ was on shey/sheyr/sheyrs while I was testing that system out for both myself and some close enby pals, but lately I've been on a "fuck all pronouns" jag for both myself and my main OC (not for the first time--figuring yourself out as an adult is HARD, people) and have just...not been using any at all when referring to Dæ in narration, except for the occasional "they"-type pronouns where necessary, specifically because of the ambiguity. When you see me calling Dæniaryn just "Dæ," that's not me shortening the name to make it faster to write--I'm literally using part of Dæ's name as a pronoun fill-in.

**Appearance:** Varies! No actual default appearance has been revealed yet (shapeshifter, and not a truly physical being anyway), but is typically a tiny, scrawny, kinda scruffy-looking thing that _almost_ blends in with the local people of a world, but not quite. The Unknown Force is not in the habit of making anything simple for Dæniaryn. Like a fey creature trying to pass for human, there's always something a bit off. For example: the humanoid appearance often has an elvish tint, even if elves don't exist on that world. Another recurring feature is very long hair, such as ankle-length in humanoids, for example. Except closer examination would make it clear that it's not actually hair at all--more like a tangible...cloudlike...thing...what with being part of Dæ's magical aura. Which can feel, so don't try giving Dæ a haircut. (Ouch—for both you and Dæniaryn.) You may also see heavy freckling on Dæ's cheeks and shoulders, with a lighter scattering everywhere else. Easily mistaken for female by human standards at a first glance, until you look and listen closer and start realizing you're not...actually...sure about that.

Basically a mood-ring chameleon—hair, eyes, body, all can shift colors even as Dæniaryn is trapped in one form at a time (look, I literally dreamed up this trait in my sleep over a decade before kids started posting overpowered mood-ring hair-and-eyes self-inserts on the Internet and gave it a bad name.…) Can normally control the mood-colors, unless extremely emotional, injured, exhausted, or in ill health. On RPG's, if the trait factors in at all, it's usually just the infamous hair-and-eyes color-changing combo since people are more familiar with that. But original canon Dæniaryn shifts all over. This is connected to the strong magical aura stuff.

If you RP with me in video games, I tend to stick with female-aligned models for Dæ since nonbinary design is sadly still a rarity. The _Elder Scrolls Online_ version, for example, is a lot more femme and a lot less wild-haired (and much shorter-haired lol) than I'd stick Dæ as being:

  
[Image description: Dæniaryn (Elder Scrolls Online version), shown as a tiny red-haired Wood Elf standing on a beach, doing a head scratch.]  


....Dæniaryn. I _promise_ you, you don't have lice. Please stop scratching and pose nicely...please? (Why are random head scratches part of the Cheerful Personality, anyway?)

  
[Image description: Dæniaryn (Elder Scrolls Online version), shown as a tiny red-haired Wood Elf standing on a beach.]  


THANK you. (Yes, my main house is awesome even when I'm just using it as furnishing storage, but that's not why we're here. 😁)

And when I say "tiny," I mean Dæniaryn is super-smol. Well under 5'/152 cm. I'm probably cheating by taking a screenshot next to a giant Pahmar-raht, but I'm literally playing the shortest possible playable character here, and staring at people's stomachs while standing up straight is not at all uncommon for Dæniaryn even outside of ESO:

  
[Image description: Dæniaryn (Elder Scrolls Online version) standing next to Sharjo, a tall Pahmar-raht Khajiit NPC for size comparison. Dæniaryn only reaches Sharjo's stomach.]  


I could've posted actual art of Dæniaryn, but I didn't feel like going through my personal art folder, or asking artists for reposting permission of their art, and my ESO screenshot directory was already open and _right there...._

**Personality:** I try to get somewhat pensive with my characters. A lot of adventure fiction just completely ignores the emotional and psychological effects of danger and questing on the characters, and Dæniaryn is a pretty damaged person for most of Dæ's existence. Being shuttled around space and time without your consent? Never knowing where you'll be at any given moment? Never knowing what you'll even look like from day to day? Making new friends and loving people you'll almost certainly never see again once you're zapped off to another world, if you don't watch them die or betray what you're fighting for first? The problem with all that is that it seriously _screws you up._ Dæ's public facade is brash, bold, often vulgar, angry, and also frequently outright obnoxious if Dæniaryn feels antagonized by someone. Dæ's true internal self is very shy, sweet, anxious, self-doubting, self-punishing, and terrified of losing everyone and everything yet again. If you hurt or offend Dæniaryn, Dæ will curse you out and possibly throw a punch, then go somewhere alone at the first opportunity to pace, panic, and take on an unhealthy amount of self-blame where no one will see.

And despite all the centuries of this sort of life, Dæniaryn is _also_ still hopeful that things will get better, that if Dæ just lives long enough, Dæ'll find out how to break free of the controlling Unknown Force. That, eventually, Dæ'll have something besides just a self-chosen name.

**Interesting Quirks:** This is something that I've only ever hinted at in many RPG's but never made an actual thing there until very, very recently (I was nervous how players would react, ahahaaaaa...ha...): canon Dæniaryn doesn't speak. Not like you're thinking of speech, with specific words and structured language. Dæ speaks in the language of the Universe; that is, music: singing, in this case. It's part of Dæ's innate psychic and magical abilities that the wordless songs manifest as a sort of glamour. The listener sees/hears/experiences the communication as their own language, carrying whatever intent Dæ's trying to put forth. Once you first notice the musical vocalizing, you can hear it behind the "words." It _can_ be blocked out and effectively make Dæniaryn unable to communicate vocally. When that happens, listeners just hear singing with no language they can determine. However, that requires a very high perception for someone to notice Dæ's speech isn't what it seems and then both have the skill and energy to put forth the effort to block ("muting" Dæ is a great way to end up on Dæ's bad side, BTW). Additionally, blocking out the psychic/magic components of Dæ's verbal speech also tends to block out telepathic/empathic communication, if you don't value your health and just wanna silence and tick Dæniaryn off _that_ much. And, on a simpler level, someone can just cover their ears to block the sound or mentally tune it out, like you can with anyone you don't want to listen to. And Dæ needs to be able to vocalize clearly for the intent to carry through clearly. There can still be misunderstandings; just 'cause someone's talkin', that doesn't mean you're really paying attention or correctly processing what they're saying. Sometimes a speaker doesn't really even know what _they're_ saying, and Dæ's certainly not immune to derailed trains of thought.

The closest other RPG players have ever come to figuring out that Dæniaryn's speech isn't "normal" (well, that's subjective lol) is in noticing that I frequently used musical terms to describe Dæ's voice. 😁 Dæ _does_ pick up bits and pieces of local languages in all those travels (mostly the kind of slang you learn from hanging around battlefields and people who fight in them, let's be real here), but has never really spent enough time in one place to master any single language. This is actually why characters occasionally notice a bit of an odd accent that comes and goes in Dæ's speech--that typically happens when Dæniaryn is using words picked up from their language, rather than relying solely upon psychic song. Dæ's other magic/psychic language quirk is being able to understand anyone else's expressed intent, if not their own actual language (unless blocked out--then we're down to charades and frustrated obscene gestures). This was kinda necessary since having a traveling character who could never understand the natives would get old fast for other characters, players, and audience alike. (Dæniaryn's other- _other_ language quirk, being able to understand any written communication and being able to write in a language anyone else can understand, doesn't exist in canon. This was another classic RPG thing I did to make character interactions easier on fellow players.)

Where did this come from? When I was a kid, I noticed that in my dreams, other people spoke, but I almost never did. I sang wordless songs, and everyone understood them as normal human speech. My dreams are strange and awesome. =^^=

When there's access to Dreams Across Infinity, which you can think of as a psychic interdimensional Internet/virtual reality, Dæniaryn extensively records memories. This is typically via vocal recordings, drawings, and writings constructed from what bits of written language Dæniaryn has picked up around the Universe. I assume Dæniaryn has a journal on whatever DAI's equivalent of LiveJournal is lol. Maintaining a physical journal is a bit hard when you tend to not be allowed to keep the things you acquire on a world once the Unknown Force yanks you off it.

And, because I know someone from the old days is going to ask about this otherwise when they read the "Favorite Foods" section: canon Dæniaryn was never vegetarian. That was a holdover from one of the very first RPG's I played in, where Dæ's people of origin, another player's invento species, were such strong psychics they could feel the death emotions in meat. (They could feel plant emotions too, but plants are different enough from animals that eating them wasn't a problem, apparently.) I held onto that trait (among others) because I felt guilty about leaving behind things I picked up in old RPG's and so leaned into it long past the point I could've dropped it. But, eventually, I got reeeeeaaaaaaaal tired of players and characters mocking me/Dæ because they assumed there was some nonexistent misguided "save the animals" moral component to Dæ's vegetarianism, and dropped it. (Tangentially, a lot of people also think _I_ was previously, morally vegetarian because I used to complain about getting sick when I ate meat and avoided it. But I was never actually truly veg*n, and there wasn't a moral reason for me avoiding meat. Then it turned out that the actual problem was my family's inability to cook well and total lack of food safety, and now that I live far away and do all my own cooking, I'm pretty fine with meats. 😋)

**Does this character fight?/Are they good at fighting?:** Yes, frequently fighting, though not often willingly. Dæniaryn has literally centuries of fighting experience, but, like with local language, isn't exceptional at a lot of skills due to different worlds having different ways to fight, different weapons, and never having time to fully learn anything. Sometimes being the outsider in battle is an advantage, and sometimes it's a liability. Dæniaryn's quite good with psychic attacks since the only tool required for that is one's own mind, the downside being that also leaves your mind open for counterattack. Dæniaryn is very quick and has excellent stamina, but while stronger than you might think of someone so small, isn't unusually strong physically. Magic gravitates to Dæniaryn, though Dæ doesn't use it except as a last resort because all that energy in one small space is too much, and Dæ can't control it. (We're talking "I meant to start a campfire but half the forest exploded and took me with it" lack of control.) Basically, in gaming terms, Dæniaryn prefers a rogue build and relying on the advantage of surprise, but will tank if necessary, and ends up doing so far more than is preferable. (I'm pleased to say that, in various canons, when Dæniaryn's backstory comes out and Dæ's character arc is resolved and skills are mastered, we see a shift into more of a healer role.)

**Is this character dead/have they died?:** Many times, but not permanently. No one's ever entirely clear if Dæniaryn dies and returns to life, or if Dæ doesn't actually die at all, but goes into some kind of near-death stasis before recovering.

**Favorite Foods (Earth-style):** Salt licorice, ginger chews, cinnamon discs, sour candies (the more sour, the better!), ice cream, chocolate, sushi (especially unagi, tamago), kimbap, bulgogi, fry bread, pretty much anything that comes in a good strong Indian sauce (Dæniaryn rarely gets access to full meals, but when that happens...Dæ can flippin' _eat,_ y'all)

**Favorite Drinks (Earth-style):** Cinnamon-ginger tea, mint tea, chai tea, cocoa, chocolate milk, fruity soda

**Character Associations:**

**Animal:** Cat...one of those half-feral strays that steals food off your porch and gradually warms up to you, but avoids everyone else and very much does their own thing when not on your lap

 **Color:** Jewel tones, particularly deep forest greens and cobalt blues

 **Month:** October

 **Number:** 16

 **Day or night:** Midnight

 **Plants:** Strong-scented herbs, old giant trees flush with fall colors, bright tropical flowers

 **Scents:** Mint, hot cocoa, wood smoke, an ancient forest after a heavy rain

 **Gemstone:** Plain geode, full of harlequin black star opal (it was totally not intentional for this to match Dæniaryn's associated month, October gemstone being opal XD)

 **Season:** Late fall, when colors are bursting everywhere, strangers gather as friends around bonfires, and freshly harvested food is everywhere. Very early spring, when it's still cold but new life is beginning to reveal itself, is also acceptable. Canon Dæniaryn is much more of a cool weather-natured person than most classic RPG incarnations.

 **Places:** Deep forests, shores, under the stars, empty-of-people or abandoned bookstores/libraries–-all preferably on overcast/rainy days

 **Astrological sign:** With all the October-related stuff, you were probably expecting Libra or Scorpio, but Dæ has too much homebody/wanderlust contrast and OMG FEELINGS to be anything other than Cancer. XD

 **Water/Earth/Air/Fire (this is what they prefer, not what they are spiritually):** Water, earth (because plants and nature)…so, Mud? *LOL*

 **Music:** Dæniaryn's genres are techno-–especially ambient/trance, folk and classic rock, symphonic rock/metal (but not much other metal), video game music and remixes, and musical cast recording-type stuff. As to actual songs....Ohgod this one is so hard because I have over three decades with this character and thus, SO MANY SONGS. Just...ask me on chat or something. I'll hook ya up.


End file.
